Peru re-opens fish oil exports to Europe

Comunicado-N-102 2018- SANIPES​, issued on August 7, cancelled earlier communications from the agency that had stated that non-compliance with a requirement to process fish oil for human consumption on a different production line would result in withdrawal from the official list of fishery products exporting to the EU.

The new communication from SANIPES stated that the following points were adopted during an August 7, 2018 meeting of the SANIPES Board of Directors:

1. Agreement No. 010-S5-2018: Previous Communications No. 066-2018-SANIPES and 093-2018-SANIPES dated May 18, 2018 and July 20, 2018, respectively, were cancelled.

2. Agreement No. 011-S5-2018: There would be an immediate restoration of the sanitary certification of batches of fish oil for human consumption destined for the European Union coming from the establishments authorized for this purpose and listed in DG SANTE:  

a) Raw material is from whole fish processed within 36 hours after catch

b) Total Volatile Basic Nitrogen (TVB-N) below 60 mg of Nitrogen/100 g is documented by laboratory analysis

c) HACCP plan and documentation of traceability

The announcement is seen as a victory for the industry, which had feared that Peru’s strict interpretation of the EU Hygiene Regulations could be devastating to the European Economic Area (EEA) refining industry, which is dependent on crude oil from Peru and other third world countries.